Black Sabbath : Live Evil : Super Deluxe Edition : CD and Vinyl Box Set Review
This is a very honest review looking at the positives and negatives in this set and what could have been done to make it better. However the Remix by Wyn Davis is absolutely awesome and will make this an essential part of anyone Black Sabbath Collection.
Back Ground
1982, and twelve years after their debut, the fathers of heavy metal finally released their first official live album. And what a cracker it is. And the reason for releasing it was allegedly threefold; a reaction to the 1980 unofficial live set Live At Last, the 1982 live release by original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, consisting of Sabbath covers, and the signing of a new publishing deal which mean a fairer split of the songwriting royalties.
Live Evil Release History
The album has previously had single CD (edited), double CD and remastered reissues, and in line with the current ongoing BMG campaign, we get the Deluxe issue in a box with extras. But how deluxe is it?
A CD and LP edition are available and first out is a replica tour poster, a replica tour programme (quite substantial, and bigger on the LP version), and a book. And what’s lovely about this book is a substantial essay, you know, proper sleeve notes, with a few pictures. It’s clearly much less press cuttings and rare overseas vinyl based. So read it as you listen and enjoy. Then there are two double CDs / LPs. Both come in gatefold sleeves, and in both cases the card is a little more substantial than usual, and the CDs and LPs are in anti static sleeves.
The first set, the remastered album, replicates the original sleeve, and compared to the last remaster, there is definitely an improvement. The music, it sounds excellent. But if that’s all you want, I’m not sure the difference warrants the price point. Yes, it’s expensive, and for some reason the European release is 30% more expensive than the US edition on Rhino.
The second set in a similar package but different artwork, is the remix. Yes they’ve remixed the album, and this is superb. Some layers come put with significantly more clarity, especially the drums. You can actually make out the separate layers.
The package is, without a doubt, deluxe, and the remastered version of the album is too. However, musical content, given the deluxe tag, and price, and that a large portion of the target audience will have the previous remaster, are you going to want more? Well, yes.
Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour 74, UFO’s Strangers In The Night, Deep Purple’s Made In Japan and most recently Thin Lizzy’s Live And Dangerous are just some of the live albums recorded over several nights that have since been reissued as multi disc sets featuring the entire individual shows. So that, here, for a live album of this standing, is a major and obvious missed opportunity. We’re not privy to what they had available to go back to, but even the most gold placed package (which this genuinely is) costs that much, one would feel a little short changed.
Gripes aside, it is a wonderful sounding and wonderfully packaged album that will be hard not to enjoy.
Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
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